Deicer for jet engines



July 14, 1953 P. P. NEWCOMB DEICER FOR JET ENGINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 25, 1949 E My QWEQQQ QQWW INVENTOR. Paza'iap I? Neznaom flilorwey July 14, 1953 P. P. NEWCOMB DEICER FOR JET ENGINES Filed 001;. 25 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 6542 BOX PIM 4/ v m m P RAM 9/:

INVENTOR. pfiiza'lv B "ere-r 0 rw5 Patented July 14, 1953 DEICER FOR JETiIiNGINES I v I Philip P. Newcomb, Manchester,'Conn.,assignor to United Aircraft Corporation, East Hartford; Conn, a corporation of Delaware v Application October 25, ISQQISeriaI'No. 123,319

6 Claims. (01. 60-39119) This invention relates to means for removin or preventing the accumulation of ice in the compressor inlet of a gas turbine power plant particularly the type-of power plant adapted for aircraft use.

When icing conditions occur in a compressor inlet the accumulation of ice may result in chunks of ice being drawn into the compressor with the result in damage, or the accumulation may so choke the compressor inlet that the operation of the power plant is seriously impeded. A feature of the present invention is to provide for warming the air entering the compressor inlet to prevent the accumulation of ice or to remove ice already accumulated.

Another feature of the invention is the provision of a supplementary burner which may be used for heating a portion of the air entering the compressor or the wall of the compressor inlet to prevent or remove an ice accumulation. Another feature is the arrangement for setting in operation the deicing mechanism as soon as ice begins to form in the compressor inlet.

The use of exhaust gas from the turbine for the removal of ice by the recirculation of a part of the exhaust gas into the compressor inlet has been tried but it may require the withdrawal of such quantities of the exhaust gas as to substantially reduce the power obtained from the power plant. A feature of this invention is the formation of the hot gas for deicing by a burner located adjacent tothe compressor inlet and utilizing ram air with which fuel ismixed and burned.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the specification and claims, and from the accompanying drawings which illustrate an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. l is a side elevation of the gas turbine power plant with parts broken away to show the ice removal device.

'Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view on a larger scale showing a modification of the'deicing means.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing another modification.

.The invention is shown in conjunction with a I prop jet in which the propeller 2 is driven by the gas turbine power plant through a gear box 4 surrounded by the annular compressor inlet 6. Ram air entering this inlet reaches thefcompressor B where it is compressed for delivery to a burner section 10. In the burner section fuel is added and the mixture is burned to provide power for the turbine l2 which is connected to and drives both the compressor 8 and propeller nozzle !6 for added propulsive effort. 1

The air enteringthe inlet 6 may be heated for the prevention 01' the removal of ice formations within the compressorinlet by burning fuel in a part of the ramair entering the inlet. To accomplish this the annular inlet is divided into.

two separateinner and outer annular paths [8 and 20 by a shield 22 in the form of a ring which may be supported in the compressor inlet as by webs 2 The outer-wall 26 of the annular inlet carries a row of fu'elnozzles 23 supplied, for example, from a ring manifold 30. Fuel may be supplied to the ring manifold by a pump 32 which may be driven by an electric motor 34. Adjacent to the fuel nozzles 28'is one or more spark plugs 55 for the ignition of the mixture of fuel and air within the outer annular passage 25! so that this part of the ram air entering the inlet is heated by the combustion of fuel and mixes with the remainder of the air to raise the inlet air temperature above that at which icing may occur.

It will be understood that the quantity of fuel admitted and the area of the inletZli are so controlled that the fuel-air mixture in the passage 29 will support continuous combustion whenever fuel is delivered to this passage.

Although the supply of fuel to the passage 20 for deicing or for preventing icing ma be manually controlled itmay be advantageous to provide for automatically starting the deicing device whenever ice begins to accumulate. To accomplish this, one of the struts 38 extending across the annular inlet duct and providing a support between the outer wall 26 and the gear box carries a pivotally mounted arm 40 which upon the formation of any ice thereon becomes weighted and pivots downwardly to close a switch 52 in an electrical circuit 44 which includes a source of power.46 and the motor 34. It will be understood that the arm 4B is very delicately balanced so that a small accumulation of ice thereon will upset the balance and complete the circuit to start the motor 34 and thereby supply fuel to the nozzles 28. i

56. At its forward end the wall 56 carries a series of small burners 58 which include a chamber Bf) having a forwardly directed inlet 62. The chamber 6! surrounds a burner chamber 64 into the upper end of which fuel is injected through a nozzle 66 connected with a supply tube 68. The burner chamber has a spark plug 10 and is perforated for the flow of air into the chamber to mix with the fuel to support combustion. The chamber 64 extends in part into the air inlet 52 of the power plant and has a rearwardly directed opening 12 through which the heated air within the chamber 64 is discharged into the duct. In this way the burner does not interfere with the air inlet and is located outside of the inlet but functions to deliver hot air into the air entering the compressor thereby pre-' Venting or removing ice formations within the inlet.

In certain installations it may be advantageous to remove or prevent icing without mixing products of combustion at the compressor inlet. As shown in Fig. 3 the compressor 80 has an annular inlet 82 located between the gear box 84 and the outer wall 88 of the inlet. the deicing device consists of an annular shell 83 surrounding the outer wall 88 and forming an annular combustion chamber 90 in which fuel and air are burned for heating the outer wall 88 of a compressor inlet. At the upstream end of the shell 88 an air inlet opening 92 is provided which is directed forwardly to receive ram air and a fuel nozzle 93 located adjacent the forward end of the combustion chamber delivers fuel into the airstream therein to mix with the air and to be ignited by a spark plug 94. The products of combustion flowing over the outer surface of the wall 86 heat it to remove or prevent ice formation on the inner surface and the gas exhausting from the opening 96 at the downstream end of the deicing burner may be vented directly to atmosphere or may be conducted to the exhaust duct downstream of the turbine.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiment herein illustrated and described, but may be used in other ways without departure from its spirit as defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A gas turbine power plant adapted for aircraft use, said power plant comprising essentially a compressor section having an inlet, a burner section connected to said compressor section and a turbine section connected to said burner section in combination with means for deicing the inlet of said compressor section including a deicing burner adjacent said compressor inlet and independent of said burner section, said deicing burner having an air inlet facing in the direction of aircraft flight, means for supplying fuel to said deicing burner to mix with air entering through said air inlet, means for igniting said mixture. support means connected to said compressor section, and means carried by said support means and located within said compressor inlet, said means being responsive to an accumulation of ice within said inlet for setting said fuel supplying and said igniting means in operation to warm air entering said compressor inlet.

2. A gas turbine power plant adapted for aircraft use, said power plant comprising essentially a compressor section having an inlet with at least one strut connected to said compressor section and extending across said inlet, a burner section connected to said compressor section and a tur- In this arrangement bine section connected to said burner section in combination with means for deicing the inlet of said compressor section including a deicing burner adjacent said compressor inlet and independent of said burner section, said deicing burner having an air inlet facing in the direction of aircraft flight, means for supplying fuel to said deicing burner to mix with air entering through said'air inlet, means for igniting said mixture, a pivotable arm mounted on said strut, and means responsive to an accumulation of ice on said arm for setting said fuel supplying and said igniting means in operation to warm air entering said compressor inlet.

3. A gas turbine-power plant adapted for aircraft use, said power plant comprising essentially a compressor section having an inlet, a burner section connected to said compressor section and a turbine section connected to said burner section in combination with means for deicing the inlet of said compressor section including means for dividing said compressor inlet into concentric annular passages,v one of said passages being a deicing burner and having an air inlet facing in the direction of aircraft flight, means for supplying fuel to said passage to mix with air entering through said air inlet, means for igniting said mixture, support means connected to said con pressor section, and means carried by said support means and located within said compressor inlet, said means being responsive to an accumulation of ice within said inlet for setting said fuel supplying and said igniting means in operation to warm air entering said compressor inlet.

4. A gas turbine power plant adapted for aircraft use, said power plant comprising essentially a compressor section having an inlet, a burner section connected to said compressor section and a turbine section connected to said burner section in combination with means for deicing the inlet of said compressor section including a plurality of deicingburners adjacent said compressor inlet and independent of said burner section, each of said deicing burners having an air inlet facing in the direction of aircraft flight, means for supplying fuel to said deicing burners to mix with air entering through said air inlets, means for igniting said mixture, means for discharging the burned mixture into said compressor inlet, support means connected to said compressor sec tion, and means carried by said support means and located within said compressor inlet, said means being responsive to an accumulation of ice within said inlet for setting said fuel supplymg and said igniting means in operation to warm air entering said compressor inlet.

5. A gas turbine power plant adapted for aircraft use, said power plant comprising essentially a compressor section having an inlet, a burner section connected to said compressor section and a turbine section connected to said burner section in combination with means for deicing the inlet of said compressor section including an annular deicing burner surrounding said compressor inlet and independent of said burner section, said annular burner having an inner wall defin- 1ng the outer wall of said compressor inlet, said deicing burner having an air inlet facing in the direction of air craft flight, means for supplying fuel to said deicing burner to mix with air entering through said air inlet, means for igniting said mixture, support means connected to said compressor section, and means carried by said support means and'located within said compressor inlet, said means being responsive to an accuznulation of ice within said inlet for setting said fuel supplying and said igniting means in operation to warm air entering said compressor inlet.

6. A gas turbine power plant adapted for aircraft use, said power plant comprising essentially a compressor section having an inlet with at least one strut connected to said compressor section and extending across said inlet, a burner section connected to said compressor section and a turbine section connected to said burner section in combination with means for deicing the inlet of said compressor section including means for dividing said compressor inlet into concentric annular passages, one of said passages being a deicing burner and having an air inlet facing in the direction of aircraft flight, means for supplying fuel to said passage to mix with air entering through said air inlet, means for igniting said mixture, a pivotable arm mounted on said strut,-

and means responsive to an accumulation of ice on said arm for setting said fuel supplying and said igniting means in operation to warm said air entering said compressor inlet.

PHILIP P. NEWCOMB.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,404,275 Clark et a1 July 16, 1946 2,435,990 Weiler Feb. 17, 1948 2,445,466 Arnhym July 20, 1948 2,447,482 Arnold Aug. 24, 1948 2,488,911 Hepburn et a1 Nov. 22, 1949 

